Magnaflow Performance Exhaust 16398 Tru-x; Stainless Steel Crossover Pipe on 2040-parts.com

New Ford Fiesta ST starts production ahead of first deliveries in March

Ford has started production of the new Fiesta ST at its plant in Cologne ahead of first customer cars arriving in Ford’s UK showrooms in March. By the time the Fiesta ST arrived at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show it had turned in to a full production model – with little change from the concept – and we finally got UK prices for the Fiesta ST last month, with the promise that Ford would be getting the first STs to customers in March. That plan looks like it’s on track as Ford announce the Fiesta ST has now started to roll off the production line in Cologne (and even the first STs coming off the line get Ford’s orange statement paint job).

Nissan drops GT-R engine in the Juke-R: Video

Nissan, in its quest to garner as many Facebook “likes” as possible, released the fourth video in its Juke-R series. This clip shows Nissan engineers planning how to shoehorn the massive 3.8-liter, twin-turbo V6 from the GT-R in the Juke's engine bay, made for a 1.6-liter. First they had to support the frame by welding a jig in place.

Mercedes launch new 9G-Tronic gearbox on E350 BlueTec

New Mercedes E350 BlueTec (pictured) gets 9-speed 9G-TRONIC auto It’s not exactly a million years ago that automatic gearboxes offered poorer performance and economy than manual gearboxes, and came as standard with just three gears. But now, automatic gearboxes are so good they can  change quicker than any driver and, with the proliferation of eight-speed auto ‘boxes, offer improved economy and performance too. The next logical step is even more ratios in an auto ‘box, and Land Rover has already revealed they’ll be fitting the Evoque with a 9-speed ZF ‘box from 2014, and the new Jeep Grand Cherokee gets a nine-speed auto ‘box too.